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There is something very apropos and meaningful about the convergence of two beautiful holidays, Thanksgiving and Hanukkah—both of which represent a celebration of religious freedom and are centered on the theme of gratitude for the blessings in our lives. As you...
Congregation Beth El SIX13, a cappella singing group, in concert at Beth El Sunday, December 5, 4–5:30 pm, in-person and online Congregation Beth El is celebrating its 171st Anniversary and Hanukkah with a concert by the world-renowned male a cappella singing group,...
Tidewater women from five years of age and up gathered at B’nai Israel Congregation in Norfolk for the 7th Annual Great Big Challah Bake on Thursday, October 21. The annual event is part of the global Shabbos Project and a collaboration between B’nai Israel...
Old Dominion University’s Institute for Jewish Studies and Interfaith Understanding, along with Jewish Community Relations Council and the Konikoff Center for Learning of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater hosted an online workshop to learn about the hidden...
Each year the Holocaust Commission’s White Rose project donates educational materials to ALL middle and high schools in the area. Commission volunteers finish packing up this year’s books to be delivered to school libraries.
WASHINGTON (JTA)—Colin Powell will be remembered in history as the first Black U.S. national security advisor, the first Black military chief of staff and the first Black secretary of state. He was also the first military chief to speak Yiddish as a second language,...
WASHINGTON (JTA)—Yair Lapid got what he wanted out of his Washington visit: the word “every,” instead of “other.” During Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s first meeting with President Biden in August, Bennett was happy with what he heard: the American...
Three rabbis walk into a bar. One Reform, one Conservative, one Orthodox. The story is significantly less funny than you might imagine. While, in general, rabbis tend to be pretty funny people when you get them together in social settings, this was a business meeting....
American athletes have won a total of 2,673 medals in the history of the Olympics, so the chances of meeting an American medal winner is low, but not impossible. Given that Israeli athletes have won only 13 medals, what are the chances of meeting an Israeli medal...
Jewish Family Service received this thank you note from an 11-year-old girl after Hanukkah last year: Dear JFS Helpers: Thank you for including me in the Chanukah gift drive. I live with my grandma and she and I have to watch how we spend money. My grandma surprised...
As the end of 2021 approaches, there’s a greater sense of normality: people are returning to society and the workplace. Yet, millions of people across the globe are still being impacted by COVID-19. Still, there is a silver lining: according to Giving USA 2021, a...
The Serpent Papers by Jeff Schnader, an area author and professor of medicine, is set on Columbia University’s campus amidst protests against the Vietnam War. This is the first book written about Columbia’s 1972 demonstrations. For the Vietnam War generation, the war...
On Sunday, April 29, BINA students turned the field at the Simon Family JCC into a new form of a rainbow. The girls had a Color Run to raise money to use for conventions and programs with other communities. Most of the student body (along with a few future students)...
The following letter was sent last month to Elena Baum, director of United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Holocaust Commission: I am writing to you from Princess Anne Middle School. I am a school counselor here and wanted to reach out to you to thank you personally...
In May 1967, the world heard the song Yerushalayim Shel Zahav, Jerusalem of Gold, for the first time as Shuli Nathan stood on stage and sang the words written by Naomi Shemer. At the time, the Old City of Jerusalem was still under control of the Jordanians, and the...
A contemporary mixed media artist known for her emotive figurative and expressionist paintings, Holly Berger Markhoff’s stunning paintings are now on exhibit at Richard Stravitz Sculpture & Fine Art Galleries in Virginia Beach. Influenced by the elongated figures...
This year’s Yom Hashoah Commemoration, honoring the victims and survivors of the Holocaust, as well as liberators and righteous gentiles, brought the community together around not just awareness and sadness, but honor and hope for the future. Yom Hashoah co-chair Elka...
At the Strelitz Early Childhood Education Center, Passover learning includes all of the children. In the infant program, for example, one child, attracted by a dimpled faux matzah ball, crawled to an eye-level poster with matzah balls attached by Velcro… and pulled...
(JTA)—From his birthplace in Boston to New York, Berlin, South Africa, China, and Israel, Leonard Bernstein (1918–1990), the larger-than-life conductor, pianist, composer, educator and bon vivant, is being celebrated in a two-year bonanza of concerts, stage...
NEW YORK April 16, 2018—In honor of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel, American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (AABGU) has donated an Israeli flag created by Rebecca Affachiner, often called “the Betsy Ross of Israel,” to the...
Last December, I was fortunate to accompany 12 amazing volunteers representing Community Relations Councils throughout the country and the dedicated staff of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs on a 10-day mission to Poland and Israel. The trip was in many ways a...
As the worldwide Jewish and pro-Israel communities celebrate Israel’s 70th anniversary, the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater is offering a new type of exhibit: The Tidewater Umbrella Project. For the past five years, the Community Relations Council has held the...
Women, April 23, 2018
Sunday, April 22, Ohef Sholom Temple Brunch: 10:30 am. Award presentation: 11 am, $10 per person This year’s recipient of Ohef Sholom Temple Men’s Club’s Henry B. Kaufmann Award is Sharon K. Nusbaum. A long-time Ohef Sholom congregant, Nusbaum is the wife of Bill...
Judy Sacks Anderson In the summer of 1972 when I was only 17, my parents, Hal and Annabel Sacks, sent my 15-year-old brother, Skip and me to Israel on a sociology trip from Virginia Wesleyan College. We spent a good portion of the summer working on Kibbutz MishMarot...
Suzanne Barr In 1967, I heard about a United Jewish Appeal Young Leadership Mission to Israel from our friends, Mavolyn and Sonny Lefcoe. I was advised that it would be a hard trip, but I wanted to go anyway. After making some calls, I managed to get on the trip,...
Amy Zelenka I never get tired of saying that every Israel experience is special— each one meaningful in its own way. Whether it’s with a Birthright trip, bar or bat mitzvah, a Federation mission, or any other means of visiting—a trip to Israel is unique among all...
Steve Snyder In the summer of 1973, shortly after graduating from college, I went to Israel as a volunteer worker on Kibbutz Ramat Hashofet in Northern Israel. I was there from June 1973 to May 1974, working mainly on the assembly line of the Kibbutz orange crate...
Jennifer Zoberman While attending the University of Arizona in Tuscon, my parents paid for a European trip for me, but I said, “I must go to Israel to help.” So, we lost our trip money. It was not possible to fly to Israel from the U.S. due to the 1967 war, so I flew...
John Correll Over a three-day weekend in 1990 while on a job assignment in Cairo, Egypt, I decided to visit Israeli friends who lived in the Jewish settlement of Ariel. When the Egyptian taxi driver picked me up from my hotel, he was very talkative and friendly until...
“Running the Tel Aviv Half Marathon with your daughter—priceless Israel experience!!”